Tom Harris, also known as The Hill Country Gardener, is a Master Gardener certified by the State of Texas, a Master Pruner certified by the San Antonio Botanical Garden, and a founder and volunteer for the Gardening Volunteers of South Texas (GVST).

Note: This is an mySA.com City Brights Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by mySA or the San Antonio Express-News. The authors are solely responsible for the content.

Tom Harris: You Call, We Haul … We’ve Got It All

Just FYI, I’ve been typing my fingers to the bone getting out some more publications that MIGHT help you be a better gardener. I now publish four things that tell you what to do by the day, week, or month as well as one that covers the whole year.

The year-long book is the first one I did last winter and is called “52 Weeks of Gardening.” It’s a compilation of almost six years’ worth of the articles I’ve done for the Boerne Star. I unduplicated them and condensed them so that they’re easy to read and don’t bore you to death with details. If you’ve been a reader of this article for any length of time, you’ll definitely see the connection. If you’re a new reader or new to the area and are just getting into gardening, this is a “must have” book.

The ones I’ve just recently finished are the “Companion,” which is a companion book to 52 Weeks of Gardening and includes 20+ detailed articles about topics in the 52 Weeks book; the “Monthly Gardening To-do Lists,” which tell in broad general terms what should be done each month in the gardens and yard; and the “Calendar/Journal,” which is in a calendar format and tells you what to do each day of the year and allows you to write in your comments each day which amounts to your keeping a gardening journal, which is something I’ve been trying to get you to do anyway.

With one of these Calendar/Journals, most of the work is done for you and all you have to do is fill in the blanks. If you’d like to see a sample of any or all of these, just write me at gardener@gvtc.com and I’ll get it right out to ya. Or, go to my Web site at www.thehillcountrygardener.com and click on the page 3 or 4 to get the information and order one or two or three. “Go ahead, make my day.”

Seed Collecting

At church last Sunday, one of my gardening friends asked if I’d write something on seed collecting — here ya go, Margi.

I’m assuming that y’all are gonna collect seeds from your own yard or the yard/garden of someone you know. It not, be sure to ask permission first, and, of course, you’re not supposed to collect seeds from public lands.

The first thing you need to know is whether or not the plant you’re gonna collect the seeds from is a pure-bred, old-fashioned, or hybrid plant. If it’s a hybrid, the seed you collect probably will not grow to look just like the plant you took it from. It’ll look like one of the parents back down the line somewhere. If it’s a pure-bred, the seeds will most likely look just like the plant you took them from, as all the parents back down the line looked exactly the same.

Once you know this, mark or identify some way the plant you’re gonna get the seeds from so you know for sure it’s the one you want. If you don’t mark it and it drops its flowers, leaves, etc., you may not know later which one it was.

Timing is critical to seed-collecting. If you get the seeds too early, they’re not mature enough to sprout. If you get them too late, they’ll be dried out too much and won’t sprout, either. If the seeds have been partially eaten by insects or birds, skip those. If the seeds have mold on them, you missed the window. You’re just gonna have to be watching for the right time.

Flower seeds are usually starting to mature when the seed pod turns brown and possibly some of the stem is brown, also. You’ll need to be watching the seeds during the maturation period, because many times when the seed matures, the pod will POP open and send the seeds flying to get them away from the mother plant. I’ve witnessed this happening many times on the Pride of Barbados seeds where the seeds land 15-25 feet away. Or, the seed pod will open and the seeds will fly away in the wind — desert willow, for example, or dandelions. Nature equips the seeds of these plants so that they land and sprout quite a ways from the mother plant so that they don’t compete for the moisture or nutrients in the soil. If you think this MIGHT happen on the plants you’re watching, put a paper bag over the plant and possibly some kind of “catching-cloth” underneath so that you’ll get what you came for.

If the seeds are still a little moist when you collect them, lay them out on a table on the patio and let them dry for 2-3 days. Drying is essential for storage. Moist seeds might sprout and then, it’s all over. Also, if the seeds you collect are in a pulp or gel of some type, it’s important that you leave them in that pulp while they dry.

What I was told years ago about saving cantaloupe seeds was to put the seeds with the gel in a Styrofoam cup and set it up on a shelf outside someplace and just leave it for several months. What happens then is that the mass will scum over and probably mold (that’s why you don’t wanna watch it much — you’d probably throw it away). Then the moldy stuff will dry out as will the gel and all it leaves is a little “puck” in the bottom of the cup. Take it out, break up the seeds and WALLA/VOILA, you’ve got yourself next year’s crop.

Now, after you’re sure they’re dry but not dried out completely (you’ll just have to trust me on this one — you’ll know it when you see it) you’re ready to store them. Personally, I use plastic zip-loc bags (sandwich or snack size) and keep them in an old plastic cookie jar in the fridge in my shop. All that’s in that fridge are the seeds I’ve collected over the year and beer. If the seeds aren’t dry when you store them, they’re likely to mold and that’ll ruin them. Be sure you put them in the fridge and not the freezer — that’ll kill ‘em for sure. I have seeds in my fridge that I’ve had for 10 years or more and many of them will still sprout. Sure, the germination rate goes down a little each year, but when you have 200-300 seeds you’ve collected, it’s no big deal. If one doesn’t sprout, put another one in. Eventually it’ll sprout.

To identify what’s in each package, I use old business cards and write on it the type of seed and the year I collected it. You can add other information if you’d like or need to. NBD. Also, I went to one of the office supply stores and bought a box of little coin-collecting envelopes. When I give seeds away, I put a few seeds in these envelopes and then write on them what’s in each one, how it needs to be grown, etc. Friends appreciate all the information they can get when you give them seeds.

Be forewarned, however, that not all the seeds you collect are gonna sprout. Remember that the plant put out thousands of seeds not expecting them all to sprout — that’d be too many for nature to deal with. So only a few of the thousands will grow to be viable plants just like Mom.

One other thing about using seeds you’ve collected; plant them only about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep in a clean, sterile potting soil and don’t put any fertilizer in yet. Keep the soil moist but not sloppy wet and set them where they get bright light but not in the direct sunlight — that’ll dry them out or fry them when they sprout. Watch them carefully and don’t let them dry out. When they get about 4-6 inches tall or when the first true leaves sprout, then you can pot them up into larger pots and use a very light liquid fertilizer, but not much. Remember, they’re like babies and can’t handle adult food yet.

That’s probably way more than you really wanted to know, but you’ve gotta know about all of it if you wanna be successful with your seed collecting. Good luck.